She
by Robin Cane
Summary: A short story about a girl, influenced by a dark, shadowy force.


"Eyes everywhere, they all know. Every single one of them see me for what I am, for what I do." Step. Step. Step. Glance. Shadows move.

'Shadow? It's not mine, someone must be following me! They're coming to get me, to kill me. They saw what I did and they'll punish me for it!'

She continued this throughout her walk within the alleyways of Divinity's reach. She hadn't slept for two nights, nor had a bite to eat in four. She shivered uncontrollably in the cold winter air of this night.

"Just one more time, I swear, just one more and I'm done for good. I promise, just one more time. What's that!" she looked around, nobody was there; simply a few leaves rustling in the wind.

She cut down into the alleyway tripping over a box. The girl cried out and began breathing quickly, shallowly, nervously. Her eyes darted back and forth over the alleyway. 'That Shadow is back - Where'd it go? She knelt next to the turned-over box and closed her eyes, gathering her thoughts to the best of her ability.

What was happening? Why was she running? Why were her clothes in such shambles? And why hadn't someone cared enough to come looking for her, or to help her? These questions were enough of a distraction from her current situation for her breathing to come back to a normal rhythm. It felt good, she could think clearly again.

'Where am I?' she muttered to herself. The girl looked around yet again, however; from the alleyway, all buildings looked the same.

A rasping voice replied. To her, it was a soft as a whisper yet as loud as someone talking right behind her, "The Salma District, you know that."

"Why? Why can't I manage to leave?" The young woman curled against the wall, hugging her knees tightly as she shivered. The voice was not new to her, but it was neither comforting nor a welcome sound.

"Because you're lowly, you're worth less than the rat in the corner there." it replied.

A rat? She lunged at the rodent, her fingertips alight with the green magic of necromancy to strike the rodent down. She easily scooped up the pest and held it close to her, stroking it like a teddy bear. It made her feel safe and secure. The girl closed her eyes and flooded the small beast's body with her magic, bringing it back to life a little worse for wear.

She stared down at her new undead pet, the confusion in her mind momentarily gone. The voice grew quieter for the moment and the following shadows receded.

She fell asleep holding her pet, napping for two hours or so. She awoke with a jolt, her pet having gone back to its natural state. The girl frowned, tears forming in her eyes.

"I need more." she muttered into the night, one could tell dawn was just a few hours away.

"More of what?" the raspy voice was back, laughing this time.

"This. This rush, this power, this control." She swallowed.

"You don't know anything about it, child."

"I'm not a child! I'm eighteen!" she stated indignantly to the chilled night.

"You're a child and you know it. You use it as an excuse to avoid everything. To not do work. Not only are you a child, you're a lazy one at that." The voice laughed degradingly at her. She covered her ears, shaking her head.

"I am not! You're wrong! You...you don't know anything! They were cruel to me! It was too hard to deal with!"

"It was too hard!" The response was mocking. "Poor little girl couldn't do what mommy and daddy dearest wanted her to! Now look at you, playing with the corpses of rats! Pathetic."

She glanced over to the corpse, it had escaped her hug sometime while she slept. A shadow approached from the entrance of the alleyway. The girl's breathing grew quick again. She then began to cower, not wanting to draw attention to herself.

"...Gods bless Charley Mops... Tha' man who innvenned hops! Wai', nah, beer!" a drunk dragged his way along the path, singing a drinking song quite loudly.

"Kill him. Take his life force. He's useless." The raspy voice wasn't as raspy this time, absolutely assertive and domineering even.

"What?" her breathing became shallow, but her response echoed throughout the alleyway.

"Who's there? Unnot-hic!-nother pretty barmaid, eh?" he turned and shambled down the alley.

"Do it. It will be easy. A bigger rush than anything you've felt. **DO IT**! Prove you're not a waste of life!" The voice was practically shouting at her.

"I don't want to! I want to stay here, I want to hide, I don't want to do anything!" she was scared, she drew a dagger from her waistband, when had she gotten a dagger? The girl didn't question it, the voice was shouting at her. All other noise was deaf to her, her vision became blurry. She didn't remember driving the knife into the quickly approaching man's throat, or how she began draining every ounce of life force from him. The drunk's face grew pale, his lips began turning blue, his eyes sunken. Every bit of life was draining from him and flowing into the girl who drank it up like a dry sponge. Her sickly and malnourished features faded with more and more energy pouring into her. She looked positively normal as the crumpled corpse hit the ground in a pool of blood.

She let out a yelp of surprise, joy, and fear, dropping the knife. The girl brought her hands up to cover her mouth in her yelp and gave a confused look at the sudden warm fluid. She yelped a second time, wiping the blood off of her hands and face to the best of her ability.

"Oh gods what have I done?!" despite the fright in her voice, she couldn't help but grin wickedly. She had done something never before, taken a life of something bigger than a cat. The rush was something unlike she had ever experienced, this energy inside her warmed her. The girl stopped shivering so much.

"Good, good. You've taken your first steps into the world, child." The raspy voice was back, much calmer and quieter now.

A shadow had materialized into the alleyway next to her, looking down at the corpse. It was little more than a silhouette. The girl didn't jump in fear, looking to him. The raspy voice spoke again, "Follow me, child. I'll show you how to master death itself." The shadow held out its hand. She took it as they walked down the alleyway. Upon entering the main road, it dissipated, but the voice was still with her, praising the girl for what she had done.

She hugged herself, glancing back to what she had done. She bit her lip and looked back to the road, knowing that she was not alone in this.


End file.
